Sens. Patrick Leahy and Dianne Feinstein could invite two witnesses to the hearing and Sen. Charles Grassley, as the ranking Republican, could invite one witness. Sens. Leahy and Feinstein invited two eminent law professors, including one who directs the Korematsu Center for Law and Equality and will testify on what the country can learn from the horrible events of the federal government’s internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

Sen. Grassley had one slot. He could have searched the country for someone to provide wise advice to the Senate. Who got the one slot? Steven Bradbury, who was the head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel during the Bush administration, and was one of the top legal architects of the torture program.